Article: Salome Donkor
The Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) defines a child as a person below the age of 18 and entrusts parents with the responsibilities to protect the child from neglect, discrimination, violence, abuse, exposure to physical and moral hazards and oppression.
Media reports on the abuse of the rights of the child sometimes involving parents, who refused to provide guidance, care, assistance and maintenance for the child and assure them of their survival and development, amount to breach of the Children’s Act.
The efficient enforcement of children’s rights is affected by the fact that most children were not enlightened on their rights, while some state institutions charged with the protection of children’s rights were confronted with challenges that render their operations ineffective.
At the recent annual Easter School for Children in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Regional capital, organised by Child's Rights International (CRI) in co-operation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), that provided a forum for children to actively participate in open discussions about critical issues that affected their welfare and the enjoyment of children's rights, the participants engaged in constructive dialogue with one another and with policy makers and government officials in Ghana.
The Tano North District Girl-Child Co-ordinator, Mrs Margaret Anane-Agyei, lamented the high incidence of teenage pregnancy among students in the district, in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
She said last year,23 female students who wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the district, were found to be pregnant and pointed out that apart from that, some female students found to be pregnant were in primary four and in other classes.
She attributed the problem to poverty, which she said had led to a high level of parental neglect and irresponsibility, adding that, in their quest to make money, some parents neglected the training and upbringing of their children and left them “to manage their own affairs”.
She also said the negative influence of foreign culture which made some young girls in rural communities copy foreign culture blindly, as well as peer pressure influence, have compounded the problem.
She stressed the need for churches to use the Women and Men’s Fellowships to champion parental responsibility and child upbringing, and also called for women empowerment programmes to improve the financial position of women to help them support the upkeep of their homes.
The Deputy Regional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Supervisor of Police (ASP) Setina Aboagye, said much as emphasis was being put on the need to arrest perpetrators of child sexual abuse, emphasis should also be placed on the need for victims of sexual abuse to make a report to the police and also seek early medical care to protect them against sexually transmitted diseases.
She also called on the media to protect sexual violence victims in order not to compound their emotional and psychological trauma.
The Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, said failure to promote children’s rights amount to stifling their efforts to realise their potentials, adding that the CRI organised the programme annually on specific theme “to remind us of what we can do to protect the rights of children”.
The Associate Community Services Officer of the UNHCR, Ms Elsie Dinah Yaokumah, said like all other children, displaced and trafficked children, as well as and street children need to be provided with the basic necessities of lives namely, food clothing and shelter and pointed out that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has camps in various parts of the country, sheltering refugee children from neighbouring countries.
The participants, after the six-day forum, presented a communiqué to the Regional Co-ordinating Council,after they had visited the Techiman Market,various houses, shops and drinking bars to distribute 250 copies of the Children’s Act 560.They also visited the Sunyani Traditional Council to interact with the traditions rulers.
The communiqué called for intensive efforts to empower women through the institution of microfinance programmes, as well as the institution of a social intervention programmes to ensure that all these children are covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
It also urged the Department of Social Welfare to monitor the activities of children and urged the Department of Social Welfare, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), to institute programmes to tackle the problems of child labour and early marriages, involving children.
It further called for the translation of the Children’s Act into Child friendly versions to be produced and distributed to promote legal literacy of the Act, stressing that the production of more copies of Act 560, as well as its translation into local dialects for the appreciation of all, must be enhanced.
Children who participated in this year’s programme exhibited unique talents, in addition to sharing experiences and discussing critical issues that affected the welfare of children.
The participants entertained the gathering with cultural display to emphasise their expectations from parents, guardians, child rights activists and stakeholders, in order to bridge the gap between children’s rights and realities.
A 12-year-old Junior High School (JHS) student of the Duayaw Nkwanta District Assembly JHS, Hannah Serwaah Arthur, who was selected by her school to participate in the Presidential Dinner in Accra, won the admiration of the audience with her display of brilliance and eloquence with a recital on the importance of education and the need for parents to educate their children to help unearth their talents.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
‘Shirley Graham Du Bois was a woman of many lives’
Story: Salome Donkor
Mrs Shirley Graham Du Bois, the widow of Dr W.E.B Du Bois-an American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, historian, author and editor, is not only remembered for her political commitment to the civil rights movement, women’s rights and anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia, but also remembered as a faithful caretaker and companion of her legendary husband.
The African-American author, playwright, composer and activist for African-Americans and other people, lived between 1896 and 1977, and got married in 1951, the second marriage for both. The couple later emigrated to Ghana, and received citizenship in 1961. In 1963 her husband died.
A biography on Mrs Du Bois, titled “Race Woman: The life of Shirley Graham Du Bois” written by Dr Gerald Horne of the University of Huston, described her as a “restless, multifaceted woman” and indicated that her life began with an early commitment to uplift her race.
The book shows how Mrs Du Bois handled successfully or unsuccessfully, the conflicts that confronted her as a black woman in a male-dominated arena and her personal struggle to resolve her parenting responsibilities with her artistic and political goals.
She understood that a solid education could free her from the challenges confronting most women in her time and reasoned that education might allow her to achieve better employment and be able to better support her children. For that reason, she relocated in 1929 to Paris, France, to study music composition.
In 1965, she was made the director of Ghana Television and in 1967, she moved to Cairo, Egypt, after a military-led coup d'etat, where she continued writing and died of breast cancer in March 27, 1977 in Beijing, China, where she had gone for treatment.
An 11-member panel that discussed the book at the American Embassy in Accra recently, as part of the centenary celebrations of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, made reference to Mrs Du Bois’ political and cultural activities and commitment to uplift her race.
Prof. Ablade Glover, who met Mrs Du Bois in Ghana in 1964, described the formative years of Mrs Du Bois as interesting, considering the fact that she left her sons in the care of others to go and study in France, where she met a lot of Black Americans and Africans who shared her activist kind of thinking.
Dr Mohammed Ben Abdellah of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon, touched on the frustrations of artists, like Mrs Du Bois, in her bid to get a firm grip on the theatre and her contribution to the establishment of Ghana television in 1965. It was her expectation at the establishment of Ghana Television that 85 per cent of programmes to be shown on that station would originate from Ghana.
In her presentation, Dr Esi Sutherland Addy, a scholar in Diaspora studies, African history and culture of the Arts, touched on chapter five of the book, which she said revealed the soft and vulnerable side of Mrs Du Bois who spent a lot of time caring for her husband in his latter days, while Prof. Akosua A Ampofo, of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, described Mrs Du Bois as a woman with many lives that is worthy to be considered, adding that she was a strong character in her marriage, playing the motherly role, which she described as intriguing.
The other panelists were Dr Kofi Baku, immediate Head of the History Department of the University of Ghana, Prof. Alex Quarmyne, a retired Director of Ghana Television, who took over from Mrs Du Bois as the Director of Ghana Television after she left Ghana, Madam Mamle Kabu, writer and novelist from Ghana, Ms Doris Kuwornu, Director of Corporate Affairs, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Prof. Kojo Yankah, founder of the African University College of Education, and Prof. Akosua Anyidoho, of European University in Ghana.
The discussions were followed by a Video Conference with the author described Mrs as woman with tremendous accomplishment and said he referred to her as ‘Race Woman’ because Mrs Du Bois was concerned about the life and destiny of people of African-American descent.
Mrs Shirley Graham Du Bois, the widow of Dr W.E.B Du Bois-an American civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, historian, author and editor, is not only remembered for her political commitment to the civil rights movement, women’s rights and anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia, but also remembered as a faithful caretaker and companion of her legendary husband.
The African-American author, playwright, composer and activist for African-Americans and other people, lived between 1896 and 1977, and got married in 1951, the second marriage for both. The couple later emigrated to Ghana, and received citizenship in 1961. In 1963 her husband died.
A biography on Mrs Du Bois, titled “Race Woman: The life of Shirley Graham Du Bois” written by Dr Gerald Horne of the University of Huston, described her as a “restless, multifaceted woman” and indicated that her life began with an early commitment to uplift her race.
The book shows how Mrs Du Bois handled successfully or unsuccessfully, the conflicts that confronted her as a black woman in a male-dominated arena and her personal struggle to resolve her parenting responsibilities with her artistic and political goals.
She understood that a solid education could free her from the challenges confronting most women in her time and reasoned that education might allow her to achieve better employment and be able to better support her children. For that reason, she relocated in 1929 to Paris, France, to study music composition.
In 1965, she was made the director of Ghana Television and in 1967, she moved to Cairo, Egypt, after a military-led coup d'etat, where she continued writing and died of breast cancer in March 27, 1977 in Beijing, China, where she had gone for treatment.
An 11-member panel that discussed the book at the American Embassy in Accra recently, as part of the centenary celebrations of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, made reference to Mrs Du Bois’ political and cultural activities and commitment to uplift her race.
Prof. Ablade Glover, who met Mrs Du Bois in Ghana in 1964, described the formative years of Mrs Du Bois as interesting, considering the fact that she left her sons in the care of others to go and study in France, where she met a lot of Black Americans and Africans who shared her activist kind of thinking.
Dr Mohammed Ben Abdellah of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon, touched on the frustrations of artists, like Mrs Du Bois, in her bid to get a firm grip on the theatre and her contribution to the establishment of Ghana television in 1965. It was her expectation at the establishment of Ghana Television that 85 per cent of programmes to be shown on that station would originate from Ghana.
In her presentation, Dr Esi Sutherland Addy, a scholar in Diaspora studies, African history and culture of the Arts, touched on chapter five of the book, which she said revealed the soft and vulnerable side of Mrs Du Bois who spent a lot of time caring for her husband in his latter days, while Prof. Akosua A Ampofo, of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, described Mrs Du Bois as a woman with many lives that is worthy to be considered, adding that she was a strong character in her marriage, playing the motherly role, which she described as intriguing.
The other panelists were Dr Kofi Baku, immediate Head of the History Department of the University of Ghana, Prof. Alex Quarmyne, a retired Director of Ghana Television, who took over from Mrs Du Bois as the Director of Ghana Television after she left Ghana, Madam Mamle Kabu, writer and novelist from Ghana, Ms Doris Kuwornu, Director of Corporate Affairs, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Prof. Kojo Yankah, founder of the African University College of Education, and Prof. Akosua Anyidoho, of European University in Ghana.
The discussions were followed by a Video Conference with the author described Mrs as woman with tremendous accomplishment and said he referred to her as ‘Race Woman’ because Mrs Du Bois was concerned about the life and destiny of people of African-American descent.
Monday, April 26, 2010
‘Let’s support women in local government’
Story: Salome Donkor
The role of women in politics and public office is one of the current burning governance issues because of the perceived and acknowledged potential and contribution of women to governance processes.
Gender and policy advocacy organisations recognise that improving the lives of women and other members of society require a balanced gender representation in government structures by promoting greater responsiveness to women in politics and decision-making.
For some women who want to enter national politics, governance at the various levels, namely the local or district, regional and national, is crucial to them, since it provides them with good training grounds to improve their chances of being elected to political office to promote gender-balance in decision-making at all levels.
The involvement of more women in politics and decision-making is expected to meet their interests and basic needs and enable them continue influence policies from a gender perspective and addressing inequalities and injustices in social relationships.
The local government system has therefore become good grounds for some women, who want to enter into national politics. But the most difficult challenge that confront most women intending to enter into local government, is lack of funds.
To support women in the 2006 District Assembly elections, the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), launched the “Women in Local Government Fund” to assist women aspiring to take part in local government elections.
According to the Public Relations Officer of MOWAC, Mrs Addisa Ofori Adu, each of the 1,772 women who contested the 2006 District Assembly elections, received GH¢20.00 for their campaign activities.
She said the Department of Women in the various regions have been tasked to work in collaboration with the district assemblies and identify 20 women from each district to support them to take part in the forthcoming district assembly elections.
Speaking at a day’s review meeting on “Challenges and Prospects of Women in Decision-Making Positions”, in Koforidua recently, the Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Women, Ms Jane Kwapong, re-emphasised the need for the private sector, corporate bodies and related organisations and individuals to financially support the “Women in Local Government Fund”
She said society should see gender equality as a tool for sustainable development and called for support and encouragement by both men and women to ensure that more women were elected in the forthcoming district assembly elections.
Participants were drawn from civil society organisations, women’s groups, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Gender Desk Officers and assemblywomen.
She urged political parties to promote equal rights and opportunities for women and men to engage in political activities and take further steps to elect women in their “safe constituencies” to contest parliamentary elections to increase the number of women in parliament.
She said since women’s reproductive roles tended to militate against their participation in politics and other decision-making processes, there was the need to encourage the sharing of parental and household responsibilities to enable more women participate in public life.
The Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Madam Beatrice B. Boateng, who is also an elected assembly member of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, advised women to rise above reproach in the face of all challenges and prove their worth, stressing that some women had been able to make it, despite the challenges.
She mentioned poverty as a major challenge that prevented women form aspiring to greater heights and pointed out that the problems could be overcome with determination, perseverance, hard work and optimism.
Mr Rex Baah Antiri of the Ghana Education Service (GES) appealed to the government to create an enabling environment that would strengthen women to be part of decision-making, especially at the higher levels.
He called for sustained efforts to deal with all forms of violence against women and repressive cultural practices against women to enable them contribute their quota to development.
Participants suggested that efforts should be intensified to address the issue of gender stereotyping, as well as speed up the socialisation process and gender equality, adding that the empowerment of women should not be limited to those in the towns and cities, but extended to rural women.
The role of women in politics and public office is one of the current burning governance issues because of the perceived and acknowledged potential and contribution of women to governance processes.
Gender and policy advocacy organisations recognise that improving the lives of women and other members of society require a balanced gender representation in government structures by promoting greater responsiveness to women in politics and decision-making.
For some women who want to enter national politics, governance at the various levels, namely the local or district, regional and national, is crucial to them, since it provides them with good training grounds to improve their chances of being elected to political office to promote gender-balance in decision-making at all levels.
The involvement of more women in politics and decision-making is expected to meet their interests and basic needs and enable them continue influence policies from a gender perspective and addressing inequalities and injustices in social relationships.
The local government system has therefore become good grounds for some women, who want to enter into national politics. But the most difficult challenge that confront most women intending to enter into local government, is lack of funds.
To support women in the 2006 District Assembly elections, the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), launched the “Women in Local Government Fund” to assist women aspiring to take part in local government elections.
According to the Public Relations Officer of MOWAC, Mrs Addisa Ofori Adu, each of the 1,772 women who contested the 2006 District Assembly elections, received GH¢20.00 for their campaign activities.
She said the Department of Women in the various regions have been tasked to work in collaboration with the district assemblies and identify 20 women from each district to support them to take part in the forthcoming district assembly elections.
Speaking at a day’s review meeting on “Challenges and Prospects of Women in Decision-Making Positions”, in Koforidua recently, the Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Women, Ms Jane Kwapong, re-emphasised the need for the private sector, corporate bodies and related organisations and individuals to financially support the “Women in Local Government Fund”
She said society should see gender equality as a tool for sustainable development and called for support and encouragement by both men and women to ensure that more women were elected in the forthcoming district assembly elections.
Participants were drawn from civil society organisations, women’s groups, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Gender Desk Officers and assemblywomen.
She urged political parties to promote equal rights and opportunities for women and men to engage in political activities and take further steps to elect women in their “safe constituencies” to contest parliamentary elections to increase the number of women in parliament.
She said since women’s reproductive roles tended to militate against their participation in politics and other decision-making processes, there was the need to encourage the sharing of parental and household responsibilities to enable more women participate in public life.
The Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Madam Beatrice B. Boateng, who is also an elected assembly member of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, advised women to rise above reproach in the face of all challenges and prove their worth, stressing that some women had been able to make it, despite the challenges.
She mentioned poverty as a major challenge that prevented women form aspiring to greater heights and pointed out that the problems could be overcome with determination, perseverance, hard work and optimism.
Mr Rex Baah Antiri of the Ghana Education Service (GES) appealed to the government to create an enabling environment that would strengthen women to be part of decision-making, especially at the higher levels.
He called for sustained efforts to deal with all forms of violence against women and repressive cultural practices against women to enable them contribute their quota to development.
Participants suggested that efforts should be intensified to address the issue of gender stereotyping, as well as speed up the socialisation process and gender equality, adding that the empowerment of women should not be limited to those in the towns and cities, but extended to rural women.
Reducing maternal mortality is a concern for all
Article: Salome Donkor
When families lose their relations through maternal and neonatal death, the joy that motherhood brings to families and relatives turn into agony, suffering, pain and distress.
Stories of causes of maternal mortality and neonatal (new-born) mortality in Ghana and other developing countries with high rates of maternal mortality, paint a gloomy picture and portray a state of despair as a result of the slow progress being made in saving women’s lives quickly.
This is in view of the fact that the Ghana Demographic Health Survey, 1993 puts the maternal mortality rate in Ghana at 214 per 100,000 live births with a life time risk of one in 35, and health experts say the situation may not change by 2015 if no drastic measures are taken to reverse the situation.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2006, while women in northern Europe have a one in 4000 likelihood of dying from pregnancy-related causes, for those in sub-Saharan Africa, the chance is one in 16.
Available evidence shows that 75 per cent of these deaths are preventable and that the timely provision of blood transfusion, caesarian section, oxytocin and antibiotic therapy, and the timely management of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia are sufficient to reduce maternal mortality rates by 50 per 100,000 without the need for advanced technology and safe support mechanisms.
The problems cause more anxiety and uneasiness considering the fact that the factors that jeopardise maternal and new-born survival are preventable or treatable with essential services, and the most effective, affordable public health interventions.
Maternal mortality is defined by health experts as the death of a pregnant woman during her pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination. According to the experts, an obstetric emergency is not a situation where the expectant mother involved could be asked to come back the next day, since that can result in her death.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed to by world leaders in September 2000, included a specific target of reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth by three-quarters by 2015 but health experts say the situation may not change by 2015 if no drastic measures are taken to reverse the situation.
An obstetric gynaecologist, formally at the Koforidua Regional Hospital, Dr J.E Taylor, once remarked that, “when a woman is pregnant, one of her legs is in the grave and depending on the care and treatment she receives, both legs can enter the grave or the other leg would come out of the grave”.
That is why the MDGs give a central place to maternal health and gender equality. MGD 5, improving maternal health, is often called “the heart of the MDGs” because if it fails, the other goals will also fail.
Evidence from 20 years of research and pilot interventions has identified five primary causes of deaths of pregnant women. Pregnancy-related conditions, also known as obstetric complications, include post-partum haemorrhage, (bleeding), eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy), sepsis (infection), and prolonged or obstructed labour, as well as complications of abortion, and these are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries.
Maternal mortality is a global issue and the concern for reducing maternal mortality stems from the fact that at least 583,000 women die each year from the complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The alarming situation is that, almost 90 per cent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
An online report by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF, 1999) estimates that there are 585,000 maternal deaths globally each year, resulting from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The situation in Ghana is equally gloomy with institutional maternal mortality rate of 250 per 100,000 live births.
In 2008, the then Minister of Health, the late Major Courage Quashigah (rtd) revealed that the country was not winning the war against maternal deaths (Daily Graphic, April 5, 2008). That statement might have touched the hearts of many people, including women in the reproductive age, as well as the relatives of people who have lost their dear ones through maternal and neonatal deaths.
Recently, a couple, Mr Thomas Vaah and his wife Mrs Elizabeth Vaah, came out into the open to complain about the mistreatment Mrs Vaah endured when she was admitted at the Lister Hospital for delivery (Daily Graphic, Saturday, April 10, 2010).
The essence of their story was that Mrs Vaah was admitted at the Lister Hospital for delivery. However, the hospital authorities did not approach their work with diligence and dedication leading to the unfortunate but avoidable death of the baby boy.
The traumatised couple has set up a foundation called “Vaah Junior Foundation for Better Maternal and Child Health” to serve as : A mouthpiece platform for families affected by such negligence, Create awareness on the prevalence of professional negligence in maternal and child health care delivery in Ghana, help provide legal backing for families affected by negligent and incompetent maternal and child health care service delivery, as well as institute an award scheme to reward and recognise exemplary service by maternal and child health personnel and service providers.
Barely two weeks after that incident, another pathetic story had been reported involving the death of the wife of a Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Mrs Fuseini, at the Police Hospital on April 21, during child birth at the Police Hospital in Accra (Daily Graphic, April 23, 2010).
A report quoted the Director-General of Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Timothy Ashiley as saying that the news came as a surprise, especially, when a research published recently indicated that the Police Hospital had the best maternal health standards in the country.
In an article written by Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, titled “Solidarity with the Vaahs”, published in the April 15, 2010 edition of the Daily Graphic, the author who said he had been a victim of the negligence of medical staff at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, said he had been paying for that since December, 1999.
He explained that his daughter who has a permanent brain impairment, could not speak and has problems with speech, and had since 2000 been on medication, which is usually imported specially for her.
It is obvious that husbands who have lost either their wives or children or both through child birth, due to various reasons, have stories to share, but most of such incidents or reports are not reported to draw public’s attention. They include stories involving expectant mothers who are carried in hammock to hospitals that are miles away, due to bad roads and lack of transport and health facilities that do not have the requisite drugs and equipment to make the process of child delivery smooth.
There are also cases of institutional delays at the health facility and the attitude of health professionals that contribute to maternal and neonatal deaths.
In 1987, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other United Nations agencies like UNICEF launched the Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI). Since then, efforts have been made to raise awareness about safe motherhood, set goals an priorities for the global Safe Motherhood Initiative and also support national safe motherhood programmes through the stimulation of research, mobilisation of resources, provision of technical assistance, and sharing of information to make childbirth and pregnancy safer.
These efforts have rallied interest and commitment from donors, programme planners, researchers and practitioners to reduce the maternal mortality rate, the indicator with the greatest disparity between developed and developing countries. Ghana adopted the SMI and that led to the initiation and implementation of Safe Motherhood programmes in the country.
In 1998, the government introduced free antenatal care for all pregnant women and in September 2003, a policy of exempting all users from delivery fees in health facilities was introduced.
The exemption policy was given a further boost in 2008 when the British government provided the Ghana Government with £42.5 million to provide free medical care for pregnant women under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
These were done to remove financial barriers to using antenatal and delivery care in public and private health facilities, in order to complement the role of dedicated and skilful health professionals to achieve a reduction in the maternal mortality rate.
In October 2007, the 62nd general Assembly of the United Nations approved a new target on universal access to reproductive health. The indicators of measuring progress towards the target included providing access to family planning to reduce unintended pregnancies of adolescents; and providing antenatal care to address health risks to mothers and children.
Reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age world-wide. The impact of reproductive health intiatives is to make motherhood safer by; improving access to family planning in order to reduce unintended pregnancy and achieve preferred spacing between intended pregnancies; achieving skilled care for all births; and providing timely obstetric care for all women who develop complications during childbirth.
The 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) said almost all Ghanaian women (95 per cent) received some antenatal care from a skilled provider, most commonly from a nurse or midwife (63 per cent) and a doctor (24 per cent), adding that more than three-quarters of women had the recommended four or more antenatal visits, and 55 per cent of women had an antenatal care visit by their fourth month of pregnancy, as recommended.
Accessing antenatal and postnatal care enabled more women to take iron tablets or syrup and intestinal parasite drugs during their last pregnancy before the survey. Women who received antenatal care during their most recent births were informed of the signs of the complications of pregnancy, and were also protected against neonatal tetanus.
This year’s State of the World’s Children Report for 2009 prepared by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), called on political leaders, governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to generate action at all levels to address the problem of maternal and neonatal deaths.
A woman’s health is critical to the well-being of her family and to the economy of her community and her country. The health of a pregnant woman is even more special because she needs access to essential health services to save her life from death resulting from obstetric complications that cannot be predicted and are difficult to prevent.
The voices of persons whose lives have been lost due to maternal and neonatal deaths, such as Mrs Fuseini, Vaah Jnr and many others that are not known, are criying for immediate action at all levels to address the problem of maternal, neonatal and infant deaths, and the time to act is now.
When families lose their relations through maternal and neonatal death, the joy that motherhood brings to families and relatives turn into agony, suffering, pain and distress.
Stories of causes of maternal mortality and neonatal (new-born) mortality in Ghana and other developing countries with high rates of maternal mortality, paint a gloomy picture and portray a state of despair as a result of the slow progress being made in saving women’s lives quickly.
This is in view of the fact that the Ghana Demographic Health Survey, 1993 puts the maternal mortality rate in Ghana at 214 per 100,000 live births with a life time risk of one in 35, and health experts say the situation may not change by 2015 if no drastic measures are taken to reverse the situation.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2006, while women in northern Europe have a one in 4000 likelihood of dying from pregnancy-related causes, for those in sub-Saharan Africa, the chance is one in 16.
Available evidence shows that 75 per cent of these deaths are preventable and that the timely provision of blood transfusion, caesarian section, oxytocin and antibiotic therapy, and the timely management of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia are sufficient to reduce maternal mortality rates by 50 per 100,000 without the need for advanced technology and safe support mechanisms.
The problems cause more anxiety and uneasiness considering the fact that the factors that jeopardise maternal and new-born survival are preventable or treatable with essential services, and the most effective, affordable public health interventions.
Maternal mortality is defined by health experts as the death of a pregnant woman during her pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination. According to the experts, an obstetric emergency is not a situation where the expectant mother involved could be asked to come back the next day, since that can result in her death.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed to by world leaders in September 2000, included a specific target of reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth by three-quarters by 2015 but health experts say the situation may not change by 2015 if no drastic measures are taken to reverse the situation.
An obstetric gynaecologist, formally at the Koforidua Regional Hospital, Dr J.E Taylor, once remarked that, “when a woman is pregnant, one of her legs is in the grave and depending on the care and treatment she receives, both legs can enter the grave or the other leg would come out of the grave”.
That is why the MDGs give a central place to maternal health and gender equality. MGD 5, improving maternal health, is often called “the heart of the MDGs” because if it fails, the other goals will also fail.
Evidence from 20 years of research and pilot interventions has identified five primary causes of deaths of pregnant women. Pregnancy-related conditions, also known as obstetric complications, include post-partum haemorrhage, (bleeding), eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy), sepsis (infection), and prolonged or obstructed labour, as well as complications of abortion, and these are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries.
Maternal mortality is a global issue and the concern for reducing maternal mortality stems from the fact that at least 583,000 women die each year from the complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The alarming situation is that, almost 90 per cent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
An online report by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF, 1999) estimates that there are 585,000 maternal deaths globally each year, resulting from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The situation in Ghana is equally gloomy with institutional maternal mortality rate of 250 per 100,000 live births.
In 2008, the then Minister of Health, the late Major Courage Quashigah (rtd) revealed that the country was not winning the war against maternal deaths (Daily Graphic, April 5, 2008). That statement might have touched the hearts of many people, including women in the reproductive age, as well as the relatives of people who have lost their dear ones through maternal and neonatal deaths.
Recently, a couple, Mr Thomas Vaah and his wife Mrs Elizabeth Vaah, came out into the open to complain about the mistreatment Mrs Vaah endured when she was admitted at the Lister Hospital for delivery (Daily Graphic, Saturday, April 10, 2010).
The essence of their story was that Mrs Vaah was admitted at the Lister Hospital for delivery. However, the hospital authorities did not approach their work with diligence and dedication leading to the unfortunate but avoidable death of the baby boy.
The traumatised couple has set up a foundation called “Vaah Junior Foundation for Better Maternal and Child Health” to serve as : A mouthpiece platform for families affected by such negligence, Create awareness on the prevalence of professional negligence in maternal and child health care delivery in Ghana, help provide legal backing for families affected by negligent and incompetent maternal and child health care service delivery, as well as institute an award scheme to reward and recognise exemplary service by maternal and child health personnel and service providers.
Barely two weeks after that incident, another pathetic story had been reported involving the death of the wife of a Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Mrs Fuseini, at the Police Hospital on April 21, during child birth at the Police Hospital in Accra (Daily Graphic, April 23, 2010).
A report quoted the Director-General of Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Timothy Ashiley as saying that the news came as a surprise, especially, when a research published recently indicated that the Police Hospital had the best maternal health standards in the country.
In an article written by Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, titled “Solidarity with the Vaahs”, published in the April 15, 2010 edition of the Daily Graphic, the author who said he had been a victim of the negligence of medical staff at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, said he had been paying for that since December, 1999.
He explained that his daughter who has a permanent brain impairment, could not speak and has problems with speech, and had since 2000 been on medication, which is usually imported specially for her.
It is obvious that husbands who have lost either their wives or children or both through child birth, due to various reasons, have stories to share, but most of such incidents or reports are not reported to draw public’s attention. They include stories involving expectant mothers who are carried in hammock to hospitals that are miles away, due to bad roads and lack of transport and health facilities that do not have the requisite drugs and equipment to make the process of child delivery smooth.
There are also cases of institutional delays at the health facility and the attitude of health professionals that contribute to maternal and neonatal deaths.
In 1987, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other United Nations agencies like UNICEF launched the Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI). Since then, efforts have been made to raise awareness about safe motherhood, set goals an priorities for the global Safe Motherhood Initiative and also support national safe motherhood programmes through the stimulation of research, mobilisation of resources, provision of technical assistance, and sharing of information to make childbirth and pregnancy safer.
These efforts have rallied interest and commitment from donors, programme planners, researchers and practitioners to reduce the maternal mortality rate, the indicator with the greatest disparity between developed and developing countries. Ghana adopted the SMI and that led to the initiation and implementation of Safe Motherhood programmes in the country.
In 1998, the government introduced free antenatal care for all pregnant women and in September 2003, a policy of exempting all users from delivery fees in health facilities was introduced.
The exemption policy was given a further boost in 2008 when the British government provided the Ghana Government with £42.5 million to provide free medical care for pregnant women under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
These were done to remove financial barriers to using antenatal and delivery care in public and private health facilities, in order to complement the role of dedicated and skilful health professionals to achieve a reduction in the maternal mortality rate.
In October 2007, the 62nd general Assembly of the United Nations approved a new target on universal access to reproductive health. The indicators of measuring progress towards the target included providing access to family planning to reduce unintended pregnancies of adolescents; and providing antenatal care to address health risks to mothers and children.
Reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age world-wide. The impact of reproductive health intiatives is to make motherhood safer by; improving access to family planning in order to reduce unintended pregnancy and achieve preferred spacing between intended pregnancies; achieving skilled care for all births; and providing timely obstetric care for all women who develop complications during childbirth.
The 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) said almost all Ghanaian women (95 per cent) received some antenatal care from a skilled provider, most commonly from a nurse or midwife (63 per cent) and a doctor (24 per cent), adding that more than three-quarters of women had the recommended four or more antenatal visits, and 55 per cent of women had an antenatal care visit by their fourth month of pregnancy, as recommended.
Accessing antenatal and postnatal care enabled more women to take iron tablets or syrup and intestinal parasite drugs during their last pregnancy before the survey. Women who received antenatal care during their most recent births were informed of the signs of the complications of pregnancy, and were also protected against neonatal tetanus.
This year’s State of the World’s Children Report for 2009 prepared by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), called on political leaders, governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to generate action at all levels to address the problem of maternal and neonatal deaths.
A woman’s health is critical to the well-being of her family and to the economy of her community and her country. The health of a pregnant woman is even more special because she needs access to essential health services to save her life from death resulting from obstetric complications that cannot be predicted and are difficult to prevent.
The voices of persons whose lives have been lost due to maternal and neonatal deaths, such as Mrs Fuseini, Vaah Jnr and many others that are not known, are criying for immediate action at all levels to address the problem of maternal, neonatal and infant deaths, and the time to act is now.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Best wishes to our mothers and children
Story: Salome Donkor
The common theme running through the messages of all those who have the interest of Ghanaian women and children at heart during this festive season, and the years ahead is the desire to see the end of problems militating against the development of women and children.
A gender activist and a columnist of the Daily Graphic, Nana Oye Luther, wrote in her column in the Tuesday, December 22 issue that her Christmas wish for women in Ghana “is for the better economically endowed Ghanaian woman to reach out of her comfort zone and give a Christmas present to a rural disadvantaged woman. Give her a package to help educate her children”.
The report of the Parliamentary Committee on Gender and Children on the 2010 annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), presented to Parliament recently by the Chairman of the committee, Mr Sampson Ahi, urged the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) to re-prioritise its activities in order to provide skills training for women’s groups under the ministry’s budget allocation for 2010.
The committee stated that in reviewing the performance of MOWAC in 2009, it realised that no skills training and economic support was provided for women’s groups, adding that providing skills training and economic support for women’s groups was a means of empowering women financially and thereby accelerating the socio-economic development of the country.
In her Christmas message, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, called on the citizenry to reflect on the various problems militating against the development of women and children in Ghana, such as parental irresponsibility, child neglect, child abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and rape, among others.
She said in spite of the many interventions put in place by the government to make education accessible to all, such as the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme and the provision of free uniforms and exercise books to pupils in all public basic schools, some irresponsible parents failed to enrol their children in school, adding “ these children end up on the streets with some growing to become social miscreants engaging in armed robbery, drug abuse and prostitution, among others”.
“Women and children face rape and physical abuse daily. These experiences lead to psychological trauma, depression, the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV and AIDS, physical disabilities and sometimes, even death”, the minister lamented.
She, therefore urged all to use the Yuletide to reflect on the problems and also work out ways in which all Ghanaians could assist to end “these social cankers”.
She said it was the responsibility of every Ghanaian to report perpetrators of rape and other abuse on women and children to the police and security agencies, stressing that “parents should take the education, welfare and protection of their children seriously to ensure that they grow up to become responsible adults”.
Ms Dansua indicated that the government for its part would continue to put in place the necessary interventions to address women and children’s issues and ensure that women and children in the society would be able to develop their full potential without any social, cultural or economic impediments and also offer maximum protection to enable them to grow up to become productive citizens.
“As we celebrate Christmas and also prepare for the New Year, I wish, on behalf of the ministry and on my own behalf, to extend our gratitude and best wishes to all Ghanaians, especially our stakeholders, who have supported us this year to advance the cause of women and children in Ghana” she said.
A message from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service urged parents and guardians to remain committed to the upbringing of their children.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Public Affairs Officer of DOVVSU, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Freeman Tettey, said Christmas was a period of showing love, understanding and giving, and advised parents who had neglected their parental responsibilities to honour their duties to God and humanity and ensure that their children were provided with food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities of life.
He said records of cases received by DOVVSU indicated that child non-maintenance was on the ascendancy and pointed out that the issue had a correlation with the crime rate, since children who were neglected and left on the streets tended to engage in all kinds of anti-social vices.
According to him, child non-maintenance cases constituted 458 out of the total of 12,456 cases reported to the unit between January and December this year, and described the situation as a serious threat to the foundation of society.
Mr Tettey, therefore advised parents to be very responsible and also remain vigilant during the festive period so that their children would not fall victim to perpetrators of rape, defilement and other violent crimes against women and children.
He appealed to the public to co-operate with the police to fight violence against women and children by reporting people who commit such crime to the police.
The common theme running through the messages of all those who have the interest of Ghanaian women and children at heart during this festive season, and the years ahead is the desire to see the end of problems militating against the development of women and children.
A gender activist and a columnist of the Daily Graphic, Nana Oye Luther, wrote in her column in the Tuesday, December 22 issue that her Christmas wish for women in Ghana “is for the better economically endowed Ghanaian woman to reach out of her comfort zone and give a Christmas present to a rural disadvantaged woman. Give her a package to help educate her children”.
The report of the Parliamentary Committee on Gender and Children on the 2010 annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), presented to Parliament recently by the Chairman of the committee, Mr Sampson Ahi, urged the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) to re-prioritise its activities in order to provide skills training for women’s groups under the ministry’s budget allocation for 2010.
The committee stated that in reviewing the performance of MOWAC in 2009, it realised that no skills training and economic support was provided for women’s groups, adding that providing skills training and economic support for women’s groups was a means of empowering women financially and thereby accelerating the socio-economic development of the country.
In her Christmas message, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, called on the citizenry to reflect on the various problems militating against the development of women and children in Ghana, such as parental irresponsibility, child neglect, child abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and rape, among others.
She said in spite of the many interventions put in place by the government to make education accessible to all, such as the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme and the provision of free uniforms and exercise books to pupils in all public basic schools, some irresponsible parents failed to enrol their children in school, adding “ these children end up on the streets with some growing to become social miscreants engaging in armed robbery, drug abuse and prostitution, among others”.
“Women and children face rape and physical abuse daily. These experiences lead to psychological trauma, depression, the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including HIV and AIDS, physical disabilities and sometimes, even death”, the minister lamented.
She, therefore urged all to use the Yuletide to reflect on the problems and also work out ways in which all Ghanaians could assist to end “these social cankers”.
She said it was the responsibility of every Ghanaian to report perpetrators of rape and other abuse on women and children to the police and security agencies, stressing that “parents should take the education, welfare and protection of their children seriously to ensure that they grow up to become responsible adults”.
Ms Dansua indicated that the government for its part would continue to put in place the necessary interventions to address women and children’s issues and ensure that women and children in the society would be able to develop their full potential without any social, cultural or economic impediments and also offer maximum protection to enable them to grow up to become productive citizens.
“As we celebrate Christmas and also prepare for the New Year, I wish, on behalf of the ministry and on my own behalf, to extend our gratitude and best wishes to all Ghanaians, especially our stakeholders, who have supported us this year to advance the cause of women and children in Ghana” she said.
A message from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service urged parents and guardians to remain committed to the upbringing of their children.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Public Affairs Officer of DOVVSU, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Freeman Tettey, said Christmas was a period of showing love, understanding and giving, and advised parents who had neglected their parental responsibilities to honour their duties to God and humanity and ensure that their children were provided with food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities of life.
He said records of cases received by DOVVSU indicated that child non-maintenance was on the ascendancy and pointed out that the issue had a correlation with the crime rate, since children who were neglected and left on the streets tended to engage in all kinds of anti-social vices.
According to him, child non-maintenance cases constituted 458 out of the total of 12,456 cases reported to the unit between January and December this year, and described the situation as a serious threat to the foundation of society.
Mr Tettey, therefore advised parents to be very responsible and also remain vigilant during the festive period so that their children would not fall victim to perpetrators of rape, defilement and other violent crimes against women and children.
He appealed to the public to co-operate with the police to fight violence against women and children by reporting people who commit such crime to the police.
Darlings Foundation expands programmes
Story: Salome Donkor
SINCE its establishment in 1998, the Darlings Human Development Foundation (DHDF), a charitable non-governmental organisation, has worked consistently to render quality service to women and children in need, the marginalised and the vulnerable groups in society.
The organisation is dedicated to helping women, children and beneficiary communities to reach their full potential by empowering rural women to develop themselves and to improve their financial position through micro-economic ventures, farming, vocational training, among others.
The programmes of the organisation, which operates in 24 communities in the Agona East District of the Central Region, are geared towards reducing family burden, cutting down on rural-urban drift, child delinquency and teenage pregnancy, and to also sensitise rural dwellers to the importance of education, especially for the girl-child.
The DHDF also aims at providing access to quality education and vocational training in the rural communities and organising educational programmes on sexual reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS and enhancing good parenting.
The organisation’s annual report for 2009 indicates that the DHDF believes that by such strategies, the inequalities between the urban and the rural dwellers could be bridged.
The report also indicates that the DHDF has developed in-depth understanding of how to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and, therefore, works with communities to help them find their own solutions, come up with sustainable ways to make a living and take part in changing balance of power, which is often tipped against them.
Since the construction of the multi-purpose Akokoasa District Assembly Primary School, the organisation had been providing educational support, such as allowances for teachers, uniforms for needy pupils, textbooks and sporting kits.
To improve academic standard of the pupils and to attract and retain teachers, the organisation purchased a set of generator for the school to be used in the night for both academic and domestic purposes.
The organisation has also set up a vocational centre at Amanfro No.11 and provides staff of the centre with allowances, educational materials, daily lunch for students and scholarship packages to orphans and the needy.
Through interventions of the organisation, 78 widows have been supported with clothing, cash and other relief items, while the DHDF support services to homes and orphanages have benefited the Osu Children’s Home, Village of Hope, and Christ Foster Home.
The report said in the ensuing year, the organisation hopes to put up a three-unit classroom and a KG/Nursery block for children at Otabilkwaa in the Agona East District of the Central Region, raise funds to provide bursaries for about 20 needy girls in the Darlings Vocational Training Centre and construct the first phase of the Darlings Villa in the Yilo Krobo District.
The report expressed the organisation’s appreciation to all those who supported its operations, and appealed to philanthropic individuals, organisations and corporate bodies for further assistance.
SINCE its establishment in 1998, the Darlings Human Development Foundation (DHDF), a charitable non-governmental organisation, has worked consistently to render quality service to women and children in need, the marginalised and the vulnerable groups in society.
The organisation is dedicated to helping women, children and beneficiary communities to reach their full potential by empowering rural women to develop themselves and to improve their financial position through micro-economic ventures, farming, vocational training, among others.
The programmes of the organisation, which operates in 24 communities in the Agona East District of the Central Region, are geared towards reducing family burden, cutting down on rural-urban drift, child delinquency and teenage pregnancy, and to also sensitise rural dwellers to the importance of education, especially for the girl-child.
The DHDF also aims at providing access to quality education and vocational training in the rural communities and organising educational programmes on sexual reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS and enhancing good parenting.
The organisation’s annual report for 2009 indicates that the DHDF believes that by such strategies, the inequalities between the urban and the rural dwellers could be bridged.
The report also indicates that the DHDF has developed in-depth understanding of how to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and, therefore, works with communities to help them find their own solutions, come up with sustainable ways to make a living and take part in changing balance of power, which is often tipped against them.
Since the construction of the multi-purpose Akokoasa District Assembly Primary School, the organisation had been providing educational support, such as allowances for teachers, uniforms for needy pupils, textbooks and sporting kits.
To improve academic standard of the pupils and to attract and retain teachers, the organisation purchased a set of generator for the school to be used in the night for both academic and domestic purposes.
The organisation has also set up a vocational centre at Amanfro No.11 and provides staff of the centre with allowances, educational materials, daily lunch for students and scholarship packages to orphans and the needy.
Through interventions of the organisation, 78 widows have been supported with clothing, cash and other relief items, while the DHDF support services to homes and orphanages have benefited the Osu Children’s Home, Village of Hope, and Christ Foster Home.
The report said in the ensuing year, the organisation hopes to put up a three-unit classroom and a KG/Nursery block for children at Otabilkwaa in the Agona East District of the Central Region, raise funds to provide bursaries for about 20 needy girls in the Darlings Vocational Training Centre and construct the first phase of the Darlings Villa in the Yilo Krobo District.
The report expressed the organisation’s appreciation to all those who supported its operations, and appealed to philanthropic individuals, organisations and corporate bodies for further assistance.
Challenging Heights faces death threats
Story: Salome Donkor
THE Executive Director of Challenging Heights, Mr James Kofi Annan, has stated that members of the child-related non-governmental organisation in Winneba and related organisations have been receiving death threats from some people for working on child trafficking cases in the area.
He said that began after his organisation, with support from the West Africa Regional Co-ordinator of Free the Slaves, Mr Emmanuel Otoo, and other organisations co-operated with the police to arrest child traffickers in the Winneba area following community sensitisation programmes organised on child trafficking.
Their efforts led to the arrest, trial and conviction of a woman who trafficked two children from the Central Region to Yeji for fishing on the Volta Lake.
The woman, Comfort Sam, alias Simpa Aba, was sentenced to three years in prison by an Agona Swedru Circuit Court presided over by Justice N.K.E. Osam, on January 8, 2010, after she had been found guilty on three counts of conspiracy, human trafficking and the use of trafficked persons.
Comfort's husband, Kofi Sammy, who is alleged to be part of a network engaged in child trafficking, is also facing trial and will appear before the court on Thursday, January 21. He is currently being held in police custody.
Also accused is the mother of the two boys, Efua Grace, who is currently on police bail.
According to the police, the victims, who are brothers, were both sold for GH¢115 by their mother three years ago when they were six and eight.
Mr Annan described the threats on their lives as serious and indicated that the matter had been reported to the relevant security agencies for further action.
He said human trafficking was a gross abuse of fundamental human rights and criminal offence under the Children's Act 1998, Act 560, adding that Ghana prohibited all forms of trafficking through its 2005 Human Trafficking Act which prescribes a minimum penalty of five years imprisonment for all forms of trafficking.
Throwing more light on the case, Mr Annan said with information from community members, the organisation initiated efforts to search and rescue the children in August 2009.
He said the rescue team met with the traffickers three times at Makango on the Yeji side of the Volta Lake and warned them and other fishermen also holding children in slavery to return them to their parents and never to use children any longer because it was illegal.
He said efforts by the rescue team to have the children released proved futile and the case was subsequently reported to the Winneba Police, who assisted Challenging Heights in contacting the Yeji Police for further assistance.
Mr Annan said child trafficking persisted in Ghana, despite the Human Trafficking Act passed by Parliament five years ago, and recalled that in July last year a court in Accra sentenced three Chinese to 41 years in imprisonment for human trafficking.
He said his organisation would not relent in its efforts to support the security agencies to curb the menace of child trafficking and asked members of communities to assist in dealing with the problem.
He said the police had assured it of full protection and warned the public that threats against individuals were very serious offences punishable by law, adding that the relevant units within the police had expressed their commitment to the fullest use of the law to protect human rights activists.
THE Executive Director of Challenging Heights, Mr James Kofi Annan, has stated that members of the child-related non-governmental organisation in Winneba and related organisations have been receiving death threats from some people for working on child trafficking cases in the area.
He said that began after his organisation, with support from the West Africa Regional Co-ordinator of Free the Slaves, Mr Emmanuel Otoo, and other organisations co-operated with the police to arrest child traffickers in the Winneba area following community sensitisation programmes organised on child trafficking.
Their efforts led to the arrest, trial and conviction of a woman who trafficked two children from the Central Region to Yeji for fishing on the Volta Lake.
The woman, Comfort Sam, alias Simpa Aba, was sentenced to three years in prison by an Agona Swedru Circuit Court presided over by Justice N.K.E. Osam, on January 8, 2010, after she had been found guilty on three counts of conspiracy, human trafficking and the use of trafficked persons.
Comfort's husband, Kofi Sammy, who is alleged to be part of a network engaged in child trafficking, is also facing trial and will appear before the court on Thursday, January 21. He is currently being held in police custody.
Also accused is the mother of the two boys, Efua Grace, who is currently on police bail.
According to the police, the victims, who are brothers, were both sold for GH¢115 by their mother three years ago when they were six and eight.
Mr Annan described the threats on their lives as serious and indicated that the matter had been reported to the relevant security agencies for further action.
He said human trafficking was a gross abuse of fundamental human rights and criminal offence under the Children's Act 1998, Act 560, adding that Ghana prohibited all forms of trafficking through its 2005 Human Trafficking Act which prescribes a minimum penalty of five years imprisonment for all forms of trafficking.
Throwing more light on the case, Mr Annan said with information from community members, the organisation initiated efforts to search and rescue the children in August 2009.
He said the rescue team met with the traffickers three times at Makango on the Yeji side of the Volta Lake and warned them and other fishermen also holding children in slavery to return them to their parents and never to use children any longer because it was illegal.
He said efforts by the rescue team to have the children released proved futile and the case was subsequently reported to the Winneba Police, who assisted Challenging Heights in contacting the Yeji Police for further assistance.
Mr Annan said child trafficking persisted in Ghana, despite the Human Trafficking Act passed by Parliament five years ago, and recalled that in July last year a court in Accra sentenced three Chinese to 41 years in imprisonment for human trafficking.
He said his organisation would not relent in its efforts to support the security agencies to curb the menace of child trafficking and asked members of communities to assist in dealing with the problem.
He said the police had assured it of full protection and warned the public that threats against individuals were very serious offences punishable by law, adding that the relevant units within the police had expressed their commitment to the fullest use of the law to protect human rights activists.
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